The Harder He Falls: 2 (So Inked) (31 page)

Briana took a sip of her Big Gulp and eyed the papers. “There was also a reported concern for her well-being, which is why I was brought in. I have to research this and while this is going on you aren’t going to be able to see your grandmother.”

“Who reported me?”

“I can’t say.”

Kellie bit her lip to keep from fuming. Someone wanted to paint her as the bad guy? Who would be so cruel to separate them now, of all times?

“Can you at least tell me how she is?” Kellie asked without looking at her.

“I can. She’s stable, no change.”

“So what do I need to do to prove that I’m taking care of her? What’s the next step?”

“I need to talk to the person who runs the home healthcare company you use—”

“Sonya. I can give her a call right now.”

“Yes, Sonya. I can call her later. Just write down her contact information in case something is missing from your grandma’s file.” She handed her a pen and a sticky note. “It would help if I could do a home visit. The doctor’s estimation of her well-being will factor in heavily. None of this can happen until this afternoon though. It’s not a fast process.”

“So I’m supposed to do what? Leave her here alone?”

“Is there any other family nearby?”

“Not in this country. My mother moved back to South Korea with her new husband.”

“Then I’m sorry, but for now your grandmother is a ward of the state.”

Those unexpected words hurt more than anything else in her life.

Crane—This iconic bird is a national treasure as well as an easily recognized tattoo element with its bright-red cap of feathers. It represents peace and hope, much like the belief that one who folds one thousand origami paper cranes will receive a wish. Cranes also stand for happiness and heavenliness, and are often designed in honor of new families.

Kellie strode through the front door of the gym. Since the A/C hadn’t been replaced yet, cinderblocks held the doors open and fans blew hot air into the hot building, creating a cyclone of heat. She didn’t recognize the person at the desk, otherwise she would have walked past.

“Hi. How can I help you?” a muscle-bound young man asked.

“I have a visitor pass, but I forgot it. Can you look me up, please?” She dug her license out of her purse and pushed it across for him.

“Sure. Give me one moment.” He clicked away at the computer. “There you are. I have you all signed in. Have a good workout. Sorry about the air.”

She grunted and walked past. While she’d come to the gym with the goal of working out, she wasn’t above lying to herself. The real reason was that she wanted to see Quin. There was something comforting about the idea of sparring, kicking his ass and turning up the heat with a little post-workout fun. She’d almost gone to the shop, but if she went there she would end up working and with the way she was now, she had no business doing tattoos or payroll.

The gym was mostly empty, which was fine by her. She changed into shorts and a sports bra in the locker room and returned to the gym floor. The punching bags were lonely over against the far wall. Lucky for them she’d brought her MMA-style boxing gloves. Tugging them on, she took up position at a bag and threw a few light punches.

There was something calming about the rhythm she settled into—left, right, left, right, shuffle a step and repeat.

She pictured the face of the ER doctor, the condescending nurse and even the apologetic social worker on the bag and hit with enough force it jarred her arm all the way to her shoulder. As the bag danced on the chain, she moved more. The hot air burned her lungs, and in less than ten minutes sweat soaked through her clothes.

It felt good to move, to force her aggression out through her arms and into the bag. She hadn’t worked the kinks out through anything but sex in months. And even the sex wasn’t as physical anymore. Emotions were getting involved, not that it was a bad thing, but tension had built back up.

“Tuck your elbows in. You’re flapping like a chicken.” Quin stepped up to the other side of the bag and held it still.

She bit back a “fuck you” and threw another punch, this time more aware of where her elbows were.

“Better.”

She hadn’t had the presence of mind to tell anyone what had happened at the hospital that morning. She’d driven home only to realize she didn’t want to be there.

“Doll, get some water. Take a break.”

“I’m good,” she heaved.

Quin stepped around the bag and caught her wrist. “Kellie, you’ve been going at it for half an hour, you’re soaked and it’s at least a hundred degrees in here. Get a fucking drink of water or I’m kicking your ass out.”

“Fuck you,” she growled out at last and pushed him, but it did no good. Her arms felt like lead weights and he was a wall of muscle.

“Later. Drink now.” He forcibly turned her and gave her a shove toward the water fountains.

“It’s hot as hell in here.” She swiped an arm across her face, her bangs sticking to her skin. Her nose burned from the sweat dripping off her brow and onto the new piercing. “What happened with the A/C?” She ducked her head to suck in chilled water.

“I haven’t replaced the damn cameras yet, so there’s no footage of whoever did it, and nothing else to go on. My insurance is going to kill me.” He leaned next to the water fountain while she sucked down water.

She splashed some of the water on her face and stood. “These gloves reek.”

“Wash them.”

“I have, but they still smell gross. Here, smell.” She peeled one off and shoved it in his face, but Quin backpedaled.

“No thank you.”

“Fine. How was stuff this morning?”

“Good. Come to my office. I have a window unit in there.” He gestured behind her. Kellie shrugged and followed, removing the other glove. “I think I’m going to have to make a rule that if you come here, you have to wear a baggy shirt or something.” His hand was too warm for comfort against the small of her back, but she didn’t move away.

“Is this the she’s-my-woman display?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll try to not roll my eyes too much.” He opened the door to the office and she walked into a wall of cold. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. “Holy shit, is your office doubling as a walk-in freezer?”

Quin swatted her ass and closed the door. “Mostly it just makes your nipples stand out.”

Kellie tossed her head back and laughed, the first one since this nightmare had started. “You’re such a guy.”

His blue eyes sparkled and smartly stayed on her face. “Well, I’m honest. What are you doing here? Not that I’m not glad to see you, but I didn’t expect to until tonight or something.”

The moment of joy evaporated and she sank into one of the chairs. With her anger worked out for the moment, she was just exhausted and pitiful. “Between that stupid fucking nurse taking off and something someone said, they’re investigating me for elder abuse.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Nope.”

Quin’s jaw had come unhinged and he stared at her. “How?”

She shrugged and massaged her temples. “I don’t know. They wouldn’t tell me.”

“That’s seriously fucked up.”

“Now that I’m not pissed off as much I can think clearer. It’s going to work out, but it sucks that I can’t be there for her right now, you know?”

He pulled the other chair around to face her and sat with his knees bumping hers.

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be at the house. I’m not used to it being so empty. I don’t want to go to work because I’ll end up working and I’m in no mood to put up with shitty clients. I probably shouldn’t have come here. You need to be working.”

“That’s the good thing about being the boss. Sometimes you can delegate to someone else. Why don’t you go shower and let’s go grab some snow cones? It’s fuck-all hot.”

“Snow cones? What are we? Five?”

“Have you had a Blue Bell-stuffed snow cone?”

She stared at him. Blue Bell ice cream was a Texas staple. But ice cream and a snow cone? “Um, no.”

“How the hell have you survived? Shower. We’re getting snow cones.”

Damn him. It sounded good. “Don’t do it because I dropped in on you.”

“Doll, when it comes to Blue Bell snow cones, I’m using you as an excuse.” He grasped her wrist and tugged. “Come here.”

Kellie rolled her eyes and let him pull her into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and took comfort in his strength. She wasn’t the kind of girl who needed a shoulder to cry on. She was tough, and she took pride in the fact that she could roll with the punches, but even she had a breaking point. Somehow the fates had set it up so that when she needed support, she had the strongest out there.

* * * * *

Quin sat staring at the red light without actually seeing it. The sickening sensation that gnawed at him was worse. He’d tipped the first domino. It was his fault, and he didn’t know how to fix it.

Someone laid on their horn, startling him out of his misery. He gunned the engine and his tires screeched. How could he have screwed stuff up so easily? For once he actually wanted something that didn’t depend on him alone. It took two people to have a relationship, and when Kellie found out everything was his fault, she was going to leave him. And the worst thing was that he wouldn’t blame her. At the most important moment in her life, he hadn’t protected her.

He’d failed, just like his father.

Except now he couldn’t do the right thing and tell Kellie. She’d find out. Secrets always came out. But he was a selfish bastard and wanted to hang on to every last minute he had with her. He didn’t know if this was love, but it had to be close.

He passed the same gas station for the second time. He was driving in a circle around his house. He didn’t even know if Kellie was there yet. Resigned to eating his guilt, he turned onto his street. He rolled up to the stop sign and peered at his house set at the end of the road. There was no car in the drive, and for a moment he felt some relief. These were a few more moments he could still call her his.

He parked in the drive and headed inside to grab a quick shower. He’d had a lucky break and got two of the A/C units replaced, but it had involved a lot of grunt work on his part. He didn’t mind, it had given him something to worry about besides Kellie. But in his bathroom, surrounded by little reminders of her she’d left over the last few weeks, like her toothbrush and a tube of lip balm, she was all he could think about. He went through his washing ritual in double time, keeping one ear open for the sounds of another person in the house, but when he got out of the shower he was still alone.

Did she know?

There was no telling what had happened in the few short hours since he’d talked to her last. He jerked on a clean pair of shorts and grabbed his phone.

No calls.

No messages.

Fuck it. He wanted to know where she was. He clicked call and lifted the phone to his ear. It rang and his heart thudded. It rang and he grit his teeth. It rang and he knew it was over.

“I’m headed your way.” Kellie’s voice lacked cheer, but neither did she sound angry.

“Just checking on you.” Everything inside him relaxed. He headed down the stairs and to the kitchen. Kellie hadn’t been eating unless he practically hand-fed her. He couldn’t do anything else for her, but he could at least ensure she ate. “Hungry?”

“I should be. Didn’t have lunch.”

“You said you were going to go eat something the last time I talked to you.”

“I was going to,” she snapped. “The social worker came by the house, so I had to drive home and twiddle my thumbs until she got there.”

“And?”

“And nothing. There were a few little things she didn’t like, but nothing was dangerous. She wouldn’t say anything, but I think they’re going to put this whole thing to bed in a day or two more and I can see her again.”

Relief flooded him. “Good. Real good. How long until you get here?”

“Fifteen minutes.”

“Will you stop and grab some more beer? I’m going to fire up the grill. How does steak sound to you?”

“Have I told you lately that I like you?”

He chuckled and opened the fridge to retrieve the cuts of meat. “I could stand to hear it again. See you when you get here?”

“Yeah, be there soon.”

They hung up and he set about prepping the meat and cutting up some vegetables to wrap in foil. He’d never really grilled until he moved to Texas, so maybe it wasn’t a terrible place to live. More than a few good things were rooted here.

With the food prepped, he headed out to the backyard to get the grill going, breathing a little easier. Maybe he would tell her what he’d said tomorrow, but for now he wanted to have one nice evening and that started with steak.

In a handful of minutes he had the whole meal going. It would have been perfect if he’d landscaped the backyard. Currently it resembled a miniature forest between the shoulder-high weeds and the tree that had been struck by lightning and lay in pieces. He’d cleared enough space behind the house for it to be safe, but it was nothing but functional.

The back door squeaked and Kellie stepped onto the porch, two beers in hand. Sunglasses hid her eyes and her hair was pulled into a high ponytail, making her neck look longer and more slender than usual. She wore a strapless knit dress with wide black-and-white stripes that had red anchors stamped over the bands at random. She looked as though she should be a tattoo model.

She paused a few feet away. “Should I go back inside so I can come out again?”

He swiped at his cheek and wiped off imaginary drool. “Would you come out naked?”

“No.”

“Darn.”

She snorted and held out a beer. “Look, Pandora put a stud in my nose.” She turned her head to the side and pointed at a tiny spot that glinted in the sunlight.

“Blinging. You’re a big baller now.”

“Please don’t ever say those two words in the same breath again. I might have to unlike you.”

He set the tongs on the side of the grill and reached for Kellie, who came to him willingly, wrapping her arms around his waist. He kissed her temple and down the side of her face until he came to her lips. When he didn’t plant his lips on hers immediately, she fisted his shirt and closed the distance herself, taking the kiss. He cupped the back of her head and opened for her. His cock grew hard, which wasn’t a new thing with her around. She was hot and sex with her was fun, but he didn’t just want to fuck.

Kellie rocked back on her heels and slid her free hand down to cup his dick. “Take care of your meat before it burns.”